Saint Chinian LE LAOUZIL Thierry Navarre 2022

Saint Chinian LE LAOUZIL Thierry Navarre, biodynamic wine, Grenache, Carignan, Syrah, Mourvedre, all the good ones…crunchy yet smooth, easy yet the cart horse is in there too, a belting southern French delight, goes with anything, chill it in the summer!  Le Laouzil (named after Les Laouzes, the local name for the schist/slate soils) is destemmed and fermented in cement before ageing in an 8,000-litre wooden foudre for twelve months. This St Chi displays red fruits, liquorice tones and plenty of herbs and spice, yet is unforced, supple and fresh. The wine sings lustily of hot fractured terroir in every glass.

Thierry Navarre has a dozen hectares of vines planted on dark brown schist terraces around Roquebrun. The achingly beautiful countryside is an amphitheatre of small mountains clad in a sea of green, a forest of small trees and bushes and the familiar clumps of fragrant rosemary and thyme which captures the scented spirit of the high Languedoc. The culture in the vines revolves around the respect for the soil, the cycles, the seasons. No chemical products are used, simply composting, natural preparation, plant infusions and working the soil. The harvest is manual and carried out by a small team. The grape varieties are typical of Saint-Chinian, namely Grenache Noir, Carignan, Cinsault and Syrah with some other varieties thrown in such as Terret, Oeillades, Muscat, Clairette and Grenache Gris.

As Thierry would say each wine and each year is a lesson in humility. He speaks of pleasure and emotion of trying a bottle of wine after a period of time and tasting the sense of place.

Having visited Roquebrun, and been overwhelmed by the natural beauty of the landscape and been delighted by the prettiness of the little village up on the hillside, just off the Valley d'Orb road which winds up to the Haut Languedoc, I can personally testify to these wines ability to transport you to their origins when drinking.   Simply delicious and pure Southern France, love it.